09 September, 2008

Ex-ManchesterCity trainee goalkeeper Ashley Timms found himself in an unnecessary world of hurt today as he was sentenced to 20 months in jail after attempted to blackmail an unnamed former colleague for £15,000 over a sex video. Timms, from Greater Manchester, made a series of threats to publish certain evocative images from the tape, involving the footballer and a woman engaged in sex at his home, if he was not paid the cash. Timms pleaded guilty to making a series of unwarranted demands with menaces last month, and was today officially jailed at Manchester Crown Court after admitting the crime.

Passing sentence, Judge Andrew Gilbart said: “Blackmail always calls for a custodial sentence. The abuse of your friendship for simple greed is an aggravating feature. This was a calculated attempt to extract money for your own benefit,” he concluded. “It is depressing that in a society where there is supposed to be more sexual freedom some popular newspapers and magazines continue to dress their interest in it as some form of moral indignation,” he continued to moralise, “when what they are actually doing is making money from their readers' interest in sex and salacious gossip.” Sorry, Mr/Lord/Whatever Gilbart, but where have you been for the last decade? Honestly what else do you expect from the media and the footballing crowd in this country??

According to a pal of Timms, he and the anonymous player in question had become friends over time, and were part of a ‘fantasy world’ of fast cars, money and girls. This faceless tipster continued: “(Timms) used to be really good friends with the player involved – they were like brothers.” The court also heard that part of this so-called ‘brotherhood’ these days is the videoing of footballers involved in sex with girls, described as “commonplace” by the not-at-all-jealous prosecuting barrister, David Friesner. He further described Timms using his mobile phone to video the international footballer having sex with a 19-year-old woman at the player’s home last September, but as they drifted apart due to Timms’ his poor attitude and subsequent sacking, he got greedy and cynically tried to milk the star for all he was worth.

So, bets on who this mysterious international footballing star is? Hmmm…tough one…definitely not the one young English player in the ManchesterCity set-up who already has a history of filming himself hanging out the back of cheap tarts…